What is Apple’s Siri, and will anyone use her?

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The Apple “Let’s Talk iPhone” event has concluded. Tim Cook and a slew of Apple execs have taken it in turns to tell us about the latest and greatest Apple goodies, and rather underwhelmingly there’s no iPhone 5 and just significant takeaways: a cheaper and faster iPhone 4S, and an interesting software package called Siri. You can read all about the iPhone 4S on our sister sites Geek and PC Mag — here we’re going to talk about Siri.

If we look past the rather Indian (and feminine) name, Siri is a portable (and pocketable) virtual personal assistant. She has a speech-recognition module which works out what you’re saying, and then a natural language parser combs through your words to work out what you’re trying to do. Finally, an artificial intelligence gathers the possible responses and works out which one is most likely to be accurate, given the context, your geographical location, iOS’s current state, and so on.

Siri is, in essence, a computer that you can interrogate for answers, kind of like a search engine that runs locally on your phone. If you’ve seen IBM’s Watson play Jeopardy, Siri is basically a cut-down version. She isn’t intelligent per se, but if she has access to enough data, she can certainly appear intelligent. Siri’s data sources are open APIs, like Wikipedia or Wolfram Alpha, and in theory there’s no limit to the number of sources that can be added (though it does require significant developer time to add a new data set). For now you can ask Siri about the weather or the definition of a word, but in the future, if Apple links Siri up to United Airlines, you’ll be able to book a plane ticket, just by talking. Because Siri runs locally, she can also send SMSes or set reminders, or anything else that Apple (or app developers) allow her to do.

Artificial intelligence isn’t cheap in terms of processing power, though: Siri is expected to only run on the iPhone 4S, which sports a new and significantly faster processor than its predecessors, the A5. Siri probably makes extensive use of Apple’s new cloud computer cluster, too, much in the same way that Amazon Silk splits web browsing between the cloud and the local device.

Noise

That’s enough about what Siri is and how it works. Let’s talk about whether anyone will actually use Siri, which is fundamentally a glorified voice control search engine. Voice commands have existed in some semblance since at least as far back as the Nokia 3310, which was released in 2000. Almost every phone since then has had the ability to voice dial, or in the case of modern smartphones, voice activate apps and features.

When was the last time you saw someone talk to their phone? Driving and other hands-otherwise-occupied activities don’t count. When was the last time you walked down the street and heard someone loudly dictate “call mom” into their phone? Can you really see yourself saying “Siri, I want a kebab” in public?

It might lose its social stigma if everyone talks to their phone, but isn’t it already annoying enough that people swan down streets with hands-free headsets, blabbing away? It’s not like voice recognition is at the stage where you can whisper or mumble a command into your phone, either: you’re going to have to say, nice and clearly, “how do I get to the bank?” in public. Now imagine that you’ve just walked past the guy who’s talking to Siri — is he asking you for directions, or Siri? Now imagine what it would be like if everyone around you is having a one-sided phone conversation or talking to Siri.

Finally, there’re practical implications to consider, which Apple usually ignores in its press events. For example, will Siri only recognize my voice? What if I leave my phone in the living room and my girlfriend shouts out “honey, we should go to that Italian restaurant” — will Siri then make a reservation? On a more nefarious note, will my wife be able to say “Siri, show me my husband’s hidden email.” When walking down a street, will Siri overhear other conversations and react accordingly?

Siri will be fantastic in the car, that’s for certain. She will also be very accommodating when you’re on your own — imagine shouting across the room “Siri, do I need to wear a jacket today?” or “Siri, download the latest episode of Glee.” Siri will be unusable in public, though, while on the move — and that’s the one time where you really don’t want to be looking down at that darn on-screen keyboard.

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Jonathan White

“Siri will be unusable in public, though, while on the move.” Only time will tell how society adapts to this from a politeness standpoint. I highly doubt that you can predict how various communities around the world will respond to this.

Anonymous

All the above questions about picking up other peoples questions are sort of non-relevant when the keynote stated the feature is only active when you initiate it by pressing the home button or your Bluetooth headset button.

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

I think that’ll work pretty well with BT, but I wonder about needing to hit the button. I realize why they need to do that but when I had voice command on my MS phone (and now voice search on my Android phone) many of the times I really want(ed) to use them were times when it was inconvenient to press the button (driving comes to mind, with the phone mounted up near the windshield). So I’m not knocking, but over time I think the industry will have to come up with a better way to activate voice commands that still protects against garbage inputs.

http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony

Hrm, yeah, I hadn’t even figured in the fact that you have to press the Home button — if that’s the case, then perhaps this isn’t so ideal for in-car use!

Makes it more usable walking down a sidewalk, though.

http://www.cardinalphoto.com David Cardinal

Apropos the button-in-car thing I was just playing with Google Voice Actions & Vliingo and in both cases they often either ask for confirmation or get things “almost” right and need some correcting. Either might be okay if you’re hand-holding but both suck in a car. One measure of Siri’s success may be whether it can get a command and get it right and go or needs to go back and forth this way.

Anonymous

All the above questions about picking up other peoples questions are sort of non-relevant when the keynote stated the feature is only active when you initiate it by pressing the home button or your Bluetooth headset button.

http://twitter.com/Wolfie_Rankin Wolfie Rankin

“Play Spandau Ballet”… (phone dials the Thai Food restaurant) I hate voice recognition, it’s crap… Sometimes it’s possible to get it going if you put on a fake US accent.

http://twitter.com/Wolfie_Rankin Wolfie Rankin

“Play Spandau Ballet”… (phone dials the Thai Food restaurant) I hate voice recognition, it’s crap… Sometimes it’s possible to get it going if you put on a fake US accent.

Joe Ohio

Now that I know what Siri is (thank you) I think if they are attempting to FINALLY get the star trek-esque “Computer..find me a spatula and exactly one gallon of Vaseline”, then this is a good start. I presume your hypothetical ‘accidental’ Siri fetches will be nerfed by having to pre-pend any request with “Siri”. Maybe.

Joe Ohio

Now that I know what Siri is (thank you) I think if they are attempting to FINALLY get the star trek-esque “Computer..find me a spatula and exactly one gallon of Vaseline”, then this is a good start. I presume your hypothetical ‘accidental’ Siri fetches will be nerfed by having to pre-pend any request with “Siri”. Maybe.

Joe Ohio

Now that I know what Siri is (thank you) I think if they are attempting to FINALLY get the star trek-esque “Computer..find me a spatula and exactly one gallon of Vaseline”, then this is a good start. I presume your hypothetical ‘accidental’ Siri fetches will be nerfed by having to pre-pend any request with “Siri”. Maybe.

http://twitter.com/desaintpreux Highlander

What about languages other than English?

I can speak English fluently, but I might NOT have a perfect diction as it is NOT my first language.

http://geek.com sal cangeloso

Yes- English, French, and German to start.

King Kong

What happens if I call you and in the conversation I say “DELETE STAR DOT STAR HYPHEN CONFIRM”?

Kailie Quinn

“I’m sorry Dave, I’m not actually as good as advertised. Are you sure you didn’t want to “cut”, “paste”, “uninstall Adobe Flash”, or “Send Apple money”?”

http://geek.com sal cangeloso

Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve found the iPhone 4’s voice recognition to be terrible. And the shorter the word, the more of a problem– “Call Home” often gets translated into the playing of some sort of album or the calling of someone totally different. It seems like Siri is going to be more intelligent than this, but an internet connection is required. So the good news is that Siri will take over all the tasks, but I guess the bad news is that it gets dumb again if I don’t have an internet connection.

Also- why only run on the iPhone 4S? Why not just have it run on the 4, but have the process take a bit longer to run? Not to be cynical about this, but it’s pretty disappointing to see.

Robert Lindabury

I think your premise may be wrong. I’ve found that it’s easier to just dictate text entry for SMS and other types of input or search even though I have a Swype keyboard! It’s just quicker and easier in many cases. I’m using an Android HTC Sensation and it works almost flawlessly. Then again, I’m in the US and speak english without an accent.

The ability to send text to people by talking is huge while I’m driving. I cannot respond to text safely if I have to physically interact with the phone while behind the wheel.

All the other stuff is just neat, but talk-text is a money feature.

Anonymous

Sebastian Anthony YOU have to hold down the home button before you can tell Siri to assist you. YOU make it seem like they are fools at Apple and YOU are god. Think before you type your disgust for great work. The Zune was an attempt to take down iPod’s but an imperfect attempt it was. Even Microsoft admitted that much. Also, why are Android’s out now and not before Apple started the whole iPhone thing?
Give credit where it is due sometimes. No one company is that worthy of your allegiance. Not one like Microsoft that has failed us so royally. Not even Apple. However give credit where it is due. Zune is a good product. A failed one but a good product. Keep it. Cherish it. Get your money’s worth out of it.

http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony

I AM YOUR GOD! THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU ADDRESS AGAIN WITHOUT RESPECT AND WITHOUT REVERENCE FOR I SHALL STRIKE YOU DOWN WITH GREAT VENGEANCE AND FURIOUS ANGER IF YOU DO NOT.

http://twitter.com/LanceSKY Lance Szydzik

Oh. I wish I could have read this ‘come-back’ first to know that I should disregard your article so as to not waste my time on someone who can’t seem to grasp the most basic concept of initiating this technology.

http://www.mrseb.co.uk Sebastian Anthony

NO U.

Anonymous

Something else to snigger at down at the local Starbucks.

sal .Santoro

Steve Jobs was as close to a God as any of you fucks will ever get to! you need to worship and shut your fucking traps, Apple is the one TRUE church, I am no saying this out of jest. bow and worship, its now OUR time, Bite of the apple, or perish…

http://twitter.com/AnusuyaV Anusuya V

Everybody’s talking about Siri. In Singapore there were talks on whether the application can recognize Singlish, the famous slang used by most Singaporeans.

http://twitter.com/AnusuyaV Anusuya V

Everybody’s talking about Siri. In Singapore there were talks on whether the application can recognize Singlish, the famous slang used by most Singaporeans.

joanna finn

I totally agree. Become a lot more productive by hiring a virtual personal assistant. Don’t do everything yourself! If you are in the UK and need a virtual personal assistant then check out dailyPA.co.uk

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